"Last night me and Kate, we laid in bed talkin' 'bout getting out. Packing up our bags, maybe heading south. I'm thirty-five, we got a boy of our own now, last night I sat him up behind the wheel and said, 'Son, take a good look around. This is your hometown.'"

- Bruce Springsteen, "My Hometown" (1984)

Have you felt that way over the last half-decade? Have you felt the sting of the economy, felt the pull to leave your town and go somewhere else, to a place where it just has to be better?

We probably all have.

But guess what? The majority of us are still here. We stayed behind because we fear the unknown, because there really isn't a better place to go, or, very simply, because this is our hometown.

I was unemployed and then underemployed for 18 months in '07-'08. I was downsized out of a 6-figure gig at the beginning of the recession. My wife, kids and I survived on Cobra healthcare, my 401-K, loans from family and the generosity of others (a card with $100, anonymously given to us at church one Sunday, was a windfall!). We never missed a mortgage payment or meal, but the threat was very real and very unforgettable.

"Gotta make a change for once in my life. It's gonna feel real good. Gonna make a difference. Gonna make it right."

About a year after I finally got work, a commission-only sales job, my father died. I went through a life crisis. What was I doing with my life? How could I be happy, do good things, and do something that would honor my father's memory?

With the help some great friends and Parish Drive, the "house band" of the Wayne United Methodist Church, YouChoose was born.

Please come on November 3rd and help the hungry. If you can't make it, click Register Now! and make a donation.

This will be an amazing night of incredible music from the 1980s. Click Register Now! and pay for your song (there are NO TICKET OR SERVICE CHARGES when you register online!), then click Contact Us and tell us what song it is you wanna hear. And if you want to sing and/or play your song with the band, be our guest.